Blog / eNews

Birds Canada is seeking new volunteers to participate in the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program. This long-term monitoring program coordinates hundreds of volunteer Citizen Scientists throughout the Great Lakes basin of Ontario and the U.S. Volunteers collect information about the presence and abundance of birds and frogs in Great Lakes marshes to contribute to our understanding of these species and their habitat needs.

February 2 is World Wetlands Day! This is a perfect time to reflect on how we can look after our wetlands. We at Birds Canada work hard to restore and protect these amazing places, and with the help of our partners and supporters like you, we’ve been very successful. Thousands of wetlands, particularly those in agricultural landscapes, remain in peril of drainage.

Some of the best tools we have for gauging the health of Earth’s biodiversity are extinction risk listings. Nationally, we have the Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA), which is based on assessments by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

In this free, fun event, people around the world count birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days. Birds can be counted anywhere – from the warmth of your home, while out walking, or at your nearest park.

Birds Canada held a third successful bird count within the Fraser River Estuary Important Bird Area in British Columbia on November 20, 2021. Sixty-five volunteer surveyors detected 132 bird species and more than 180,000 individuals in this crucial wintering bird hotspot! An immense thank-you to all who contributed.

Dr. Tony Gaston, in collaboration with Mark Maftei and the Raincoast Education Society (RES), set out to improve this knowledge by conducting self-funded, formal surveys in 2020 and 2021. And we had an opportunity to participate in the field surveys!